Scottish Opera production to visit Moray primary schools
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SCOTTISH Opera is set to bring its newly-commissioned production to five Moray primary schools over the course of the next three months.
The production, titled The Last Aliens, begins its tour around Scotland on Wednesday, February 23. The tour will last until May 27.
The Last Aliens, for pupils between primary five and seven, is a funny, albeit somewhat relevant, story about aliens saving the earth.
It will visit Mosstowie, Cluny, Keith, Hopeman and Aberlour primary schools.
Scottish Opera's last tour came to a halt in March 2020, before eventually going online. This year's tour will be a hybrid approach.
The company's education and outreach department, which has been working in primary schools for 50 years, is delighted to be able to offer the production in-person again after a two-year break.
Jane Davidson, director of education and outreach, said: "This is a completely new hybrid approach to our longest running project – the primary schools opera tour – which we are incredibly proud to bring back to schools in this 50th anniversary year of Scottish Opera’s education programme.
"Through engaging directly with our artists – first online and then in person – the pupils can experience the excitement of rehearsing and performing a meaningful and funny musical story, as well as exploring this important subject matter across a range of key areas in the core curriculum."
As part of the production, pupils will be asked to prepare for a 30-minute performance in front of each others, as well as friends and family.
In a normal year, around 9000 children across Scotland take part in these performances with many more thousands of friends and families coming to see them in action.
Mosstowie Primary School is the first in Moray to receive the visit, on Friday, March 11, with the other four primary schools all being visited towards the end of the tour in May.
Hopeman Primary School's visit is on Wednesday, May 11, with the other three on successive days – Cluny, in Buckie, is on May 18, Keith Primary on May 19 and Aberlour on May 20.
The Last Aliens is composed by Alan Penman with lyrics by Ross Stenhouse,
The production is supported by The Mickel Fund, Harbinson’s Charitable Trust, The Hayward Sanderson Trust and Scottish Opera's Education Angels, with thanks to the Educational Institute of Scotland for a donation towards the cost of the production.
For more details about The Last Aliens, visit www.scottishopera.org.uk/join-in/opera-for-schools/the-last-aliens.
You can follow Scottish Opera on Twitter, Facebook and Instagram at @ScottishOpera.
